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Dracoburn's Story

This is tied to League of Heroes, by Feralninja. The story of why his Ground Elite Four member got to be so unfriendly. This is the story of Dracoburn.

The light pummeled our eyes as we stood, peering through the midday silence. My best friend stood by my side, his bright eyes gleaming with a determination that I will forever miss. That’s what really gets to me. He was so intelligent, his gaze so decisive.. We have been together since childhood, and are inseparable. I was dressed in my warmest layers, my breath billowing out in clouds. But he stood there in the same layer of clothing he wore when he saw his first light; and didn’t even mind. My proud, if adamant, friend stood but steps away from my anxiously shuffling boots in still, uncovered feet. Of course, he couldn’t escape the condensation in his breath. That was my brave friend’s only display of being effected by the cold. But hey, I can’t blame him; if anyone’s more hot-blooded than me, it’s him. What, with his blood literally boiling and all.. Oh yea, I forgot to mention: my best friend is a large, orange dragon that breathes fire and can eat a deer in one sitting. Just a quirk of his.

My trusty Charizard, Dracoburn was in his best physical condition. He grew up with me, so we’ve really gone from five to fifty together. Of course, I’m not fifty. I’m only nineteen, and I was sixteen when this happened. Just a kid. I had no idea of how much pain the world can bring.

Behind us stood my other companions; Ferocity, my Garchomp, clawed at a wall. Gyara splashed in the icy water, unfazed by the freezing temperatures. Analyt twitched his long antennae, reminding me of his days as a Dragonaire, when he felt in charge of all things weather. Scarr, the Salamence let out an impatient huff. And Wyvern glided back from cliffside to cliffside, stretching his long, webbed wings the way his ancestors must have before I revived him from the amber I found in the underground. My dragons. Their sharp fangs. Their intense loyalty. I’d like to believe that it’s the latter that got me so far. We shared our hearts. I taught them strategy. They taught me how to fly. And we taught each other teamwork, intensity, love.. I was proud of them, to say the least. All at level fifty. All donned with medals from past triumphs..
Ribbons from days off.. Items to keep them the best they can be. And all ready. Or so I thought. Maybe they were. Maybe I wasn’t.

We suddenly saw what we had been looking for. The snow blew past for a moment, and the silent, red-capped figure appeared at the top of the peak. This was it.

Draco and I turned towards each other and nodded almost imperceptibly. As one, the seven of us marched up the path to Red. The Greatest Trainer. We had been training for this. I had thirty-two badges to show for it.

The kid turned to us. He was a few years younger than me, but his eyes betrayed his experience. All in one gesture of his hand, his famous beast, the creature that is known to destroy entire teams, stepped up to the ring. I looked at my team. Ferocity and Scarr were smirking. Gyara knew better simply from his typing. And Wyvern didn’t care, he knew he always led. But Draco understood. He was with me when Red rose to glory and knew that his Pikachu was a force to be reckoned with. I caught each of their eyes to wish them silent encouragement, and called upon Wyvern to work his magic.

“Go! Wyvern!”

“Aerrroooo!!!” he screeched, and glided into the battlefield. Red’s Pikachu immediately began firing sparks at my pterodactylian beast. Wyvern knew how this worked, though. He waited until the mouse needed to rest, and then summoned sharp stones from the side of the mountain. The Pikachu ducked, thinking that this would be the classic Rock Slide. But no. Wyvern’s first move was never offensive. He was very intelligent for a dinosaur. Instead, he sprinkled some of the stones on the field, and levitated the others over the opponent’s side of the field. Pikachu soon got over its puzzlement, and waited for Wyvern to need to land, charging its famous Volt Tackle. But Wyvern knew this was an inopportune matchup, and dove in for the ol’ switcheroo. As he approached the electric mouse, he opened his gaping jaws and shrieked a pitch so high that the Pikachu squeaked and fled back towards Red, forcing him to switch. He sent out a giant shellfish Pokemon, his Blastoise. Of course, Wyvern had a move to counter this.

“Wyvern! Thunder Fang as soon as it lands!”

I knew the armored turtle would take a moment or two to shrug off the damage from Stealth Rock. But I underestimated its resilience. Wyvern landed the blow, yes, with his fangs generating incredible static electricity. But Blastoise had just enough time to position its right cannon where the bite was destined to land. It grimaced when the shock went through its body, but didn’t flinch, and propelled a furious Hydro Pump directly down Wyvern’s throat. The ancient dragon held on for dear life, but his eyes grew wide and I saw a tear begin to form in the corner.

“Let go! Let go before it seriously hurts you!”

Wyvern released the grip of his fangs, and shot up into the air. The Blastoise had aimed him directly towards a cliff! But my agile set-up artist managed to recover, spinning around and landing. However, this last-chance maneuver left him winded, and he bent over to expel a stomach full of water onto the snow. Wyvern took just a moment too long retching, and before I could warn him, Blastoise charged at him and hit him with a wicked body slam. This obviously was more than Wyvern could take. I called him back to his Pokeball, whispering to have a long rest.

But I saw the Blastoise suddenly wince. It had gotten paralyzed by the thunder fang!

I knew how to finish the weakened shellfish. With a flick of the wrist, my battle-hungry Gyarados let out a screech and charged through solid ice to bring the pond with him. I grinned, proud of the raw power my Brave Gyara could muster when he got wired up. And this was just the beginning.

I took a moment to ponder whether the accuracy of Thunder in a hailstorm was worth it.. I shook my head, and instead bellowed “Gyara! Get it under the water!”

My Atrocious Pokemon was much more intelligent than his special attack let on. He immediately slid out of the water and slapped the back of Blastoise’s shell with his long tail. The paralyzed turtle hit the water like a rock. Without a moment’s hesitation, Gyara’s horn sparkled with static, and he launched his Thunder directly into the water. The strobe effect under our feet was magnificent, and the howling turtle launched out of the water and collapsed, unconscious, on the snow, dozens of feet from the water.

Red showed a slight glimmer of appreciation, or so I thought. But he sent out the frightened rat again, now recovered from the, ooooh, scary noise. Pikachu prepared to launch a Thunderbolt, but Gyara was too quick. He slammed his tail into the ground, and I was suddenly grateful that I had given Gyara the small pouch of Soft Sand. The ice shattered under Pikachu’s paws. But the rodent was more crafty than it let on. As the ice split into fissures, Pikachu dove between two sheets. Gyara had no way of telling where the attack was coming from, and suddenly his long serpentine body shuddered with a piercing Volt Tackle. Gyara howled as his incredible form skidded into the snow. It fought to regain its “footing”, but the majestic beast wasn’t half as agile on land, let alone snow, as it was in water. Pikachu quickly felled my blue beauty with a reverberating Thunderbolt.

My team let out a collective gasp. Gyara was by far the best on my team when it came to brute force. This mouse had some insane electric power. I had to bring out Ferocity if I wanted to withstand these hits.

As if it knew what I was thinking, my Garchomp howled a battle cry and shot out to the land half of the field. Pikachu charged itself up bravely, while Fer’ simply grinned. She tilted her head back and sand began to swirl around the two of them, in direct contrast to the howling snowstorm encompassing the rest of the area. Pikachu found itself squinting as the Sandstorm clouded its vision and eroded its flesh. Suddenly, before it knew what was coming, it was struck to the ground by Ferocity’s vicious Dragon Rush. The rat’s pitiful defenses couldn’t hold up, and it made a great show of being knocked out.

Red glared at this, and sent out Venusaur, who used its Vine Whip to return the shivering mouse to its owner.

Ferocity was unprepared for grass types, so I yelled for her to give it all she had. These, of course, were code words for Draco Meteor.

I was hoping this would throw Red off and force him to switch. And as soon as he saw the sky darken, he knew an attack was coming that could knock out even his hulking grass type. I called it. The Pokeball came out and Venusaur was replaced by the walking lump of special defense that is Snorlax.

Just as he had planned, Snorlax took the incoming meteorites of purple doom like a trooper. It must have taken almost half its hp in damage, but the thing didn’t even sneeze. It just scratched the area of impact and blinked sleepily at my Garchomp, whose shoulders were sagging with the special attack recoil of using the move. I knew that in its tired state it would hardly tickle the beast with a repeat.

“Ferocity, move closer to it and focus your Sandstorm. I want you to make it as blinding and biting as you can. Then, eat your white herb so that you get your strength back.”

With a quick nod, Ferocity zipped in a circle around Snorlax while sand streamed from its pores, immediately surrounding itself and its quarry with a twister of dust and stones. The only way I knew it had stopped to eat its item was through prior experience of the tactic. I knew that Snorlax was blindly firing Shadow Balls at it, however, simply by the orbs of energy that were whisking into the distance. Then the Shadow Balls depleted their PP and ceased. I was aware of a feeling of shock coming from Ferocity, and as the Sandstorm lightened in intensity I noticed that Red’s Pokemon was gnawing on the base of its tail lazily. Fer’ screeched and swung the fat lump off of it, but Snorlax landed with a thud and released a powerful Blizzard from its mouth. Ferocity deftly avoided the attack, but it overpowered the Sandstorm and the weather conditions returned to the icy snowstorm they originally were. My team shuddered at the change in temperature, and I was glad I had returned Wyvern to his Pokeball. He would not have rested well in these conditions.

Ferocity glared at the opponent for removing her disguise and, roaring, hammered it with another Draco Meteor. Snorlax grunted as the meteors pelted its rotund form, and actually looked for a moment as if it would defy many Pokedex entries by becoming sick. But it simply let out a loud belch, stood up, and fired another Blizzard at point-blank range. Ferocity winced as the frozen wind hit her at 100% accuracy. Even at full health, she couldn’t handle a 4x weakness to the most powerful ice-type attack. Snorlax has a low special attack, so she made it through most of the storm itself. But when it cleared, I saw her give one last bitter snarl before crumpling on the ground, shuddering from the cold. I hardly had time to call her back, and certainly had no time to command this, but Scarr let out a vengeful roar and leapt into battle in fury. I could hardly blame him. He and Fer’ had a close bond. The two had very similar natures, and very similar pasts. While they weren’t the only pseudo-legendaries on my team, Analyt had led a rather sheltered childhood, bred and cared for by monks until I had passed my training as a dragon master and he was given to me. I had found Scarr in Meteor Falls after Team Magma did a raid. He was so small then, huddled in his nest after the villains had taken his mother and siblings to train as their own. And Ferocity, though never harmed directly by humans, had been living in the Oreburgh mines and lost her father, and only family, when he was crushed under a landslide caused by the mining operations taking place. The only creatures they trusted were myself, and each other.

Scarr tore out onto the field and simply assaulted the fat beast. He caught it between his fangs in an intense grapple, and shred at it with furious Dragon Claw attacks until it stopped resisting. Then he hopped back and blew a victory Flamethrower into the sky hot enough to melt the snow circling him.

Red recalled his tank, and Venusaur returned to the battlefield. The Stealth Rocks crunched like gravel under its feet as it turned to face its new opponent.

I didn’t quite understand why Red had sent out a Pokemon that mine had a 4x resistance to. Perhaps because it was one of his older Pokemon. Or maybe he wanted to heal some of its earlier taken damage. At any rate, I knew my Salamence could trump it in both speed and type.

“Scarr! Aerial Assault!”

This was a move I had taught all my flyers, and Ferocity and Gyara had similar versions(UnderGround and UnderWater, respectively). Scarr demonstrated it perfectly. He took off into the air and swooped down over Venusaur repeatedly, razing it with Flamethrower as it passed from different angles. After about the fifth time, it finally landed the Fly attack and knocked out the weird frog flower before it could land a single hit.

He flashed a new Pokeball, and out blazed a fifth creature. I saw a very familiar form as a Charizard rushed out to confront Scarr. There was an immediate clash of testosterone. The two dragons circled each other in the air, snarling and biting at the other’s beating wings.

“Scarr!! Aerial Assault again! Hit it from underneath!”

I knew enough of Charizards to know that their underbellies were soft and vulnerable. I also knew that their defense was much weaker than their special defense, and so did Scarr, obviously, as it used Dragon Claw as the weapon of choice. It rushed forward, slashed at Charizard, and retreated. But this strategy didn’t last very long. Charizard was faster than Scarr, and was soon dodging before any moves could hit, forcing Scarr closer and closer every time. Within moments, Scarr was within range at both ends of each dive, making it vulnerable. Then. Charizard blasted it with a powerful Dragon Pulse from above. It then dove into Scarr’s back before it had time to recover, and pushed it, skidding into the snow. Scarr rose its head long enough to give me a long look, then flopped its heavy skull back into the dust.

I recalled my sweeper with a snarl, turned, and nodded to my best friend.
“Alright, Dracoburn. You know how it’s done. That Charizard can’t land without taking serious damage from Stealth Rock. Force it to land. Then defeat it when it has just a sliver of its health.”
Dracoburn growled in agreement, then flapped its great wings and took to the air above the enemy’s head.

Draco locked eyes with his opponent, and the battle was on.
The dragons rushed at each other, both in fury and in love of competition. It is said that Charizards only truly give it their all when faced with another of their species. Our two fire starters were certainly proving this theory. They snapped at each other and wrestled in midair. The fight was intense, but mine certainly had the upper hand. Red’s Charizard was obviously tired, and running low on power points for his attacks. Draco was fresh and new, and, though I may be biased, appeared much better trained. Within minutes, he had the other grasped by the scruff of its neck. Two pumps of Draco’s great wings got them within fifty feet of the ground, and a swift kick to the small of its back sent the opponent pummeling into the rocky trap beneath them. It staggered to its feet, groaning in pain from the gouges in its knees and wings, but Draco was too quick. The screeching beast’s eyes widened as it disappears under an incoming Rock Slide.

Five down, one to go. The laser beam from the next Pokeball headed straight towards the water. I was incredibly relieved to see a Lapras, half ice type, form from the energy. One well-aimed Rock Slide could take it below half health after the minor damage from Stealth Rock. With Draco’s finely-tuned vision, this battle would be easily won.

The hail buffeted Dracoburn, but my brave partner was too hyped-up to even notice. He thrusted his open jaws into the sky and roared a welcome to the ensuing victory.

Red, on the other hand, had other plans. The Lapras launched itself out of the water and landed on Draco, crushing him in a body slam. With a furious snarl, my Charizard thrusted the sea monster off of his back. He turned to launch a countering Flamethrower, but staggered as he realized his back was damaged and he was paralyzed.

This could ruin a guy’s day.. He shot to me telepathically.

Hold it together, friend. You’ve got this in the bag. It’ll hit first, sure.
But you can use your Blaze if it whittles you down to that.

Dracoburn growled hatefully at the blue monster in front of him. As if in response, the creature cooed and slid back into the water. Draco pelted rocks behind it, but it deftly avoided each blow. I realized it was simply stalling, trying to exhaust Draco into struggling, or force me to switch out.

“Need a break, buddy?” I yelled out to my friend, but he turned and gave me a brave denial as response.

As if on cue, Lapras slipped back onto the ice. Draco tried to fly away, but it was too badly paralyzed and, it flopped back onto its knees. The sneering Lapras got within a foot of my buddy’s face, and I thought I heard Red mutter “It’s over.” under his breath. Draco began to charge a Flamethrower, but the opponent was faster, and launched what I can only imagine was Psychic, as Draco threw back its head in pain with unknown stimuli. Then, while it was still recovering, Lapras aimed a sharp Blizzard directly into its sharp, bright eyes.

The sound that echoed around us was sickening. I knew from the burning in my own eyes that Dracoburn was in massive pain, more than he had ever known. He shrieked in agony. The attack ended, and Draco tried to turn away, but Lapras forced it to remain in place with another psychic. Before I could call back my friend, the final attack was made.

“NO!! STOP!! I SURRENDER! I surrender…”

Red smirked and called back his Lapras. This was my first loss in hundreds of battles, but I didn’t care. Blindly, I ran to my injured Charizard.

“If you can’t stand to see your Pokemon get hurt, you shouldn’t battle with them. Come back when you’re ready.”

Red turned away from me, called out his still-weak flyer, and departed on its back.

I hardly noticed.

“Draco.. I’m so sorry..”

It could only whimper in response.

My eyes.. They burn.. I’m.. I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to lose..

It sighed, then laid its head back into my lap.

Its eyes? I thought.

I looked at him to see bloody tears slithering down his draconian face. His eyes were red, and frostbite framed the rims of all his facial features. He panted in agony. I had to get him home.

I called Analyt to my side. “Analyt! Help me fly Draco back to the cabin. The whole team needs rest, but he’s seriously hurt. I don’t wanna risk putting him in his Pokeball.”

The intelligent gaze of my Dragonite flickered down briefly, then back to me in understanding. I mounted his back, and he picked up the injured Charizard gently. We flew down to my cabin at the base of the mountain, and while the others ate, Analyt flew out to summon a nurse, and I stroked my friend’s face as he laid on my own bed, blood still pooling at his tear ducts.

An hour or so passed before help arrived. By then, I’d gotten enough nursing information from my friend Daisy. I had cleared the blood from his eyes, rinsed them out with lukewarm water, and treated his frostbite with Ice Heal. He had a series of blankets covering him, and the others were in the main room, resting and playing games anxiously.

Eventually, the nurse arrived to my home. She told me I’d done all that I could do, and that his body would recover with rest. But his eyes would remain sightless. He could never battle again.

That night, I slept in the same bed with him for the first time since he evolved.

Last edited by dracoburn; 6th February 2012 at 11:35 PM.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

I tried the whole "sad little emo thing" when I was a freshman, so I learned quite a lot about dark romanticism and such.

I wrote a part two about how I continued to live prior to my induction into the league, and I can post it if you're interested.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

Alright. Part two is, in my opinion, a bit less exciting. But it does provide a little background. And it's shorter, for what it's worth. Enjoy!

Analyt sent the nurse back with Wyvern in the morning so that he could prepare breakfast. For a Pokemon, Analyt was a gourmet chef. Scarr roasted berries and Stantler meat while Ferocity fawned over him. Analyt then sliced the meat and mixed a berry salad. The team ate, and Analyt managed to convince me to eat my own share. Eventually Draco woke up, but he couldn’t eat.

It took weeks, but I eventually got Draco’s spirits back up. But it pained me every day to see his unseeing eyes, almost as much as it pained me to know that he couldn’t get revenge on that Lapras.
It didn’t take long for me to get him retrained in hunting. In a few years, we developed intricate signals so that he could still feel useful, but I could only give them to him through touch. He could still hear my commands, but it took my touch to give him aim and direction. I found that we had some control over each other’s physical auras just like how we could speak telepathically.

One day, I decided to test that link.

You ready, buddy?

Of course. I’ve never felt more ready in my life.

There was a wink in his voice.

Ok. We’re gonna start over the valley.

Explain the conditions.

Clearer than it has been in months. There isn’t even snow.

I noticed that. My feet aren’t cold. I can still feel, remember?

This time it was an eye roll I sensed.

I thought you weren’t affected by the cold.

This was a running gag of ours. While he was in the teenage stage of his development, he mocked me when I shivered in the Ice Path. Then it got more serious. We were trapped in a cave when some snow slid down the wall, and he evolved into a Charizard just so that he could wrap his wings around me and keep me warm until his tail flame melted it. Ah.. Memories..

Ha. I’m ready, by the way. Say when. I’ll pick up an air current when I get a little higher.

Stay in my sights, Draco. We can try the forest after we’ve done this a few times. Or a few hundred.

Don’t worry about me, Becca. I’ve flown before.

Not without me.. Ok, well, just don’t do anything too ambitious, ok?

Right.

Ok… Fly!

Dracoburn bravely spread his wings and lifted his face to the clear sky. With a few beats of his wings, he took to the skies. I sent him signals, and he swerved around the makeshift targets(my fliers were delighted with the idea of possibly being crashed into and earning some of my attention). This went on for quite awhile, rocky at first, but he soon zipped gracefully around the valley just like he used to.

Suddenly, a flash hit my vision and I noticed a giant red and white figure. With.. A man on its back? It was obviously a dragon, but not one that I had ever seen before. Perhaps from another region? I’m an expert on dragons, how could I not have known about this one? It created a contrail from its long, thick-furred tail, and whistled “Shirrrrrrrrrrrm” as it flew.

This distracted me for just a moment, and I caught a Whoah! from Draco followed by two surprised shrieks from he and Analyt in turn.

Sorry, buddy! I apologized, holding back laughter as the two hit the water together.

A few months passed, with me spending all my time training and researching the White Dragon, as I’d begun to call it. Apparently there were Pokemon in all the regions of the world. I’d only gotten through the Northeastern leagues as of yet. I thumbed through the four layers of my badge case. I could increase this to forty. Maybe even more! I brushed aside the travel bug. Without Dracoburn on my team, how could I ever battle an0ther league?

But another week passed. I was out training Gyara while Analyt and Draco gathered and hunted, respectively. Ferocity and Scarr were curled up together in the makeshift nest they had built a week or so ago, after sheepishly announcing that Fer’ had her first egg coming soon. Now they were acting so unlike themselves, not leaving the egg for a moment, and taking shifts relighting the fire burning under the steel bars of the nest. Occasionally Draco would “babysit” by resting his tail flame under the bars while he napped so that the two could get some fresh air and train.

It was a beautiful day on the mountain.

Gyara had just gotten up the cave’s waterfall in record time because I told him that he could go outside if he did. So, we left the cave to train in the lake. Not long had passed when I saw another Pokemon I’d never seen before approach over the horizon. But this wasn’t the White Dragon. It vaguely resembled a Pidgeot, but only in size and typing. Otherwise, it was very different. The bird’s body was black from the bottom, red from the top. It had white feathers on its head, however, and blue and yellow accents. It stood in front of me, about six inches below my height, and looked into my eyes with an intelligent gaze. It then presented one leg, revealing a letter tied to it. I untied the letter, and stepped away. It then bowed, and backed off a few feet, obviously waiting for something. I opened the letter:

“Come join our league, for trainers who love the thrill of battle, not the competition. You have been selected to attend our summit in three weeks, at the Tower of the Ancients. A map is enclosed. Please present this invitation upon arrival. We hope to see you soon.. Elite Four Becca.
- - - Raj

P.S. Please send RSVP with which type you would like to use. The chosen types are: Normal, Fire, Electric, Dragon, Flying, Psychic and Dark. Please assemble a team of five Pokemon of your chosen type and one wildcard of any type. As a leader or elite, you may choose specific rules for your challengers to follow, if reasonable. We hope to see you soon!
Simply reattach your reply to the leg of this Braviary. No matter how far you live, he can make it back to Unova in no time!
- - - Raj”

I thought this sounded like an excellent way to stretch my legs.. But I was famous for dragons, what other type could I use? Ferocity then climbed out behind me to get some fresh air. She took one look at the crumpled page in my hand and roared excitedly, stamping her feet.

“Guess you made up my mind for me, eh girl? But what type should I choose? Dragon’s taken, I can’t use you guys.”

She growled in annoyance and scuffed her foot in the dirt.

“Ground? Ya think so?”

The look on her face showed her lovable arrogance.

“So you can be on the team? Don’t you have an egg to watch?”

She huffed.

“Alright, fine. Touchy thing, you. Get some of the Seaking Analyt broiled for yourself and Scarr, alright?”

Satisfied, she turned and left my side, brushing the back of my knee affectionately as she went.
I pulled out a pen and scribed a quick response: “Yes. Ground-type. I’ll be there.”

Last edited by dracoburn; 11th May 2011 at 11:39 PM.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

This is good. Though you should add some form of something when you and Draco talk. I've started using quotation marks just like normal dialogue, because italics (which I use for telepathy or silent communication on Fictionpress) don't show up on the forums.
Also, its a minor gripe, especially since it's your story. In fact, I'm being stupid.
But I'll post it anyway.
In the Epic Clashes of Cole, where League of Heroes stemmed from, Reshiram and N bonded only about a month before the league summit. I know, it's your thing. And your choice in the end.

I use italics for the telepathy when I type up the first copy on Works. Unfortunately, you can't copypaste the processing system's method of applying fonts, and it's quite a bother to go through and edit it.. I might do so now, though. I'd hoped that it would make sense without that, but there may be something I can do about it.

EDIT: Went through and re-italicized the thought/telepathy. A little time-consuming, but it'll hopefully make this an easier read.

EDIT: And I getcha about the Reshiram bit. I didn't know what your timeline was, so I based it off of realtime and my completion of the game. I caught Reshiram in my Black version towards the end of March. It also originally didn't mention which month this occured in, but I ended up making it March because it then fits well with parts later in the story. I'll be sure to change that as I continue Part Four.

Last edited by dracoburn; 11th May 2011 at 11:34 PM.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

I was told that I should post part three. It's mainly dialogue, but once again, provides background and the like.

Braviary, eh? Unova? I’ve heard about it, of course. In fact, I have some ancestry there. I had a distant cousin named Skyla. She had actually been my first trade, her Starly for my Murkrow. This was when I was ten and she was fifteen. After that, she went to Unova for flight school, and I finished my tour of Johto and started collecting badges in Kanto. We were both just too busy, and hadn’t spoken in years. Not since I left my parents, actually. But it may just be time to give her a call.

“Tempting. But I actually had a question to ask.. Have you seen a huge white dragon? I saw one flying over Mount Silver awhile ago. I didn’t guess that it was related to Unova until I got a letter asking me to be the Ground Elite Four member in a league that’ll meet in Unova’s Tower of the Ancients. I figured that if you guys still have leaders, you must have an Elite Four. Why are they letting us meet in their home?”

“The Tower of the Ancients? They don’t live there.. No one does, really. Not that that couldn’t be subject to change..” A long sigh. “Things have been a little.. off, lately. This guy, Ghetsis, challenged a kid named Cole awhile back. He was defeated, but escaped. We gym leaders took down his 'friends', the Sages, but it seems like there’s an air of suspense. But Ghetsis had defeated our Champion, Alder, and the Elite Four has never been weaker than it is now. The mountain that the League is built on got damaged quite a bit when N’s castle was erected… Wait.. N! N was also defeated by Cole. He and Ghetsis controlled a team called Plasma that tried to separate humans from their Pokemon. But Cole used a Pokemon named Zekrom to defeat N’s Reshiram. After that, N flew off on the Reshiram’s back, to find his inner self or some hippie concept like that. Did the guy on the dragon have green hair and a hat?”

“Maybe. He was pretty far away. I really only noticed the dragon. It was white, had long fur, and created a contrail from its glowing, red tail.”

“That’s Reshiram, alright. So N’s in Johto?”

“Well, he was in at the beginning of this month, anyways..”

“That could’ve only been a week or so, max, since he left Unova.. No telling where he is now..”

“Sorry I’m not much help.”

“Becca, you’ve helped plenty! That means he traveled far in his journey. If he wants revenge, he could bring back Eastern Pokemon for his team, or worse, Ghetsis’. We need this league more than ever.. So you have the ground type, yes?”

“Yep. My Garchomp really wanted to be on my team, haha..”

“Ok! Is your team done?”

“Hmm.. Almost. I’m thinking Garchomp, Torterra, Nidoking, maybe a Gliscor.. They said I could have a wildcard. I was thinking I’d catch a Tyranitar so that I’d have a nice little taste of Mount Silver on my team.”

“What happened to your old Charmeleon? I’d think for sure you’d use him..”

“….”

“What is it?”

“Well, good news is he evolved and is an incredibly powerful Charizard. Bad news is.. Well.. He had a bit of an accident.. Got blinded.. I don’t really like to talk about it…”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”

“He’s still a great Pokemon. But he’d be a little hard-pressed to battle..”

“I getcha. Alright, well, you’re missing a Pokemon, you know.”

“I know. I figured I’d use an Unova Pokemon. You got any ideas?”

“No, sorry. But my friend does. In a city near mine, there’s a ground-type gym leader named Clay. Honestly, he reminds me of your dad.. I can fly over and pick you up in a few days.”

“Alright, thanks! Sooner the better, I guess. Summit’s in two weeks, and I’ll need some time to train..”

“Two weeks?? I’d better head over there now! It’s a full day’s trip.”

“Oh.. Um.. Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess. Thanks.”

And so, the trip was made.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

It makes for a very fast-paced method of character development. But I try not to leave many chapters this void of action. It's ok, the next one has a double battle that I'm writing up right now.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

Good job! I'm waiting to see your character's take on the Summit. Obviously, you don't need to rewrite the whole thing (unless you want to :P) but you should definitely say what you did in the interim two weeks.

Oh, yay, so it's cool for me to do a perspective on some of the parts you wrote? I was a little uneasy about that, to be honest. But Dracoburn's Story demolished my writer's block, and now I'm so engrossed in it.. I love your story concept, and am even including parts of the League in my real life. I think it'd be awesome if everybody did a quick thing from their own perspective, but I assure you that you will be credited and will always remain the "official" author of this saga.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

Quick warning; the chapters are going start to elevate in rating slightly from my last three. Some language and violence. Nothing serious, but perhaps a bit higher on the PG scale. Nothing PG13 yet.

Part Four: New Union.

The hardest part was leaving most of my team. I brought Gyara, in case there was a lot of water to cross. Ferocity, because she was on my league team. And of course, I brought Draco. The others stayed behind to train and watch the egg. I taught Analyt some recipes, and how to work the PC so that Scarr could visit his mate. I also reactivated my old Pokenav for Analyt so that I could call them on my Pokegear when I got lonely.

Skyla arrived the next day. She and I hugged enthusiastically, and she and my Pokemon loved each other. But boarding that plane that night was painful.. I waved to the three friends I was leaving behind with tears in my eyes, and I knew they were feeling just as nostalgic as I was. I could tell even without my empathy. But I was moving on to new horizons. And they would always be my friends. I could call them. It was just hard knowing that they would be on the opposite side of the planet..

Skyla and I spent a few hours catching up before we both went to sleep. She’d gotten one of her friends to fly her jet so that she could show me her Pokemon. Surprisingly, she still had the Murkrow, though it had by now evolved into a Honchkrow. We talked about family. She grudgingly asked about Silver. The two never seemed to like each other much, even when we were kids. My father had two brothers; one was Skyla’s dad. The other Silver’s. I had always had a soft spot in my heart for little cousin Silver, even though I couldn’t accept his old tendency to steal. That, he inherited from his.. mother. Shockingly, Uncle Giovanni was a pretty nice guy, until he got married. Sure, he already had it in him; my grandmother was a greedy, bitter woman. She drove her husband off after the birth of her third son, my dad. She always called her kids brats, made them do all the housework, was practically abusive. But the younger sons did fine. Uncle Giovanni was always ambitious, sure. But he never would have hurt anyone for a rare Pokemon.. Before he married his mother’s clone. He could’ve ended up quite famous as a researcher. He was quite intelligent, a trait passed on to Silver. It’s a real shame he became so nasty after he met her… At least their son still has a good heart.

Silver and I were close friends as kids. He and I would have play-fights between Dracoburn and his Sneasel, long before we left on our journeys, when I was nine and he was seven. I taught him the basics of battling. He lived with us for a little while after his father left, when he was about eight. I left on my journey shortly after he came to live with us, but I went back to check on him from time to time. After his dad was defeated, he left to go create a name for himself. But he was separated from his Sneasel, and, in a panic, he stole a Totodile from Professor Elm’s lab. Last I saw him, though, was in Blackthorn. He was trying to get through the same apprenticeship program I took as a young, hot headed teen, and his recently evolved Crobat, along with the Feraligatr and Weavile(he reconnected with his Sneasel in Cianwood, thankfully) can attest to his strengthening bond with Pokemon.

It was nearly dawn when we touched ground in Mistralton. It would be so strange to be in Unova. Many of the people in Johto spoke Japanese. I may be European in descent, but I knew I would hardly understand unbroken English without an Asian accent.. And the minorities.. People speaking Spanish and French.. Yikes. But I also knew I could handle any change that came my way. I could meet people from all corners of the world at the Summit, even the Southern Hemisphere! And the Pokemon.. I wondered if I would be alone in having a Tyranitar. I’ve defeated the roughest and toughest trainers in Johto, so if there were people from my region, I would be sure to recognize them.

Skyla asked if I was tired, but I felt brimming with excitement. How could I sleep now?? She laughed, and led me to her gym.

Inside was unlike any gym I’d seen before in my life. Perhaps no more technologically-inclined than the classic psychic gym, or the invisible walkway of Ecruteak’s.. But it had an intense air of adrenaline. Skyla explained that all the gyms in Unova doubled as a city attraction. There were two museums, a restaurant, even an amusement park! The Mistralton Gym doubled as a training base for pilots, with cannons to shoot people across the long hall and to other areas. The most determined challengers would even have to fly through rings! Skyla told me that in a flying type gym, no successful trainer could live with a fear of heights. She led me to a cannon.

“Um, no thanks, I’ll just fly up on Dracoburn’s back..”

My Charizard was helping my case PLENTY by displaying his curiosity and sniffing the cannons..

“Scared of heights?” Skyla stuck out her tongue at me. “Dracoburn sure seems to think the cannons sound fun. And I can’t possibly let a cousin of mine in my city without making her try out my gym. Come on! It’s fun!”

My face grew hot. “I’m not scared, I just thought it would be faster to fly is all.. I’d think of all people you would understand.”

She simply laughed and pressed a few keys on a pin pad. The latch swung open, and a trapdoor revealed the inside.

“Climb in, close your eyes, and it’ll shoot you off in thirty seconds. My trainers will show you which one to take next. Have fun!”

I swallowed the terror rising in my throat and stepped into the first cannon.

I must have screamed the entire way, but I finally made it to the top of the gym. Skyla landed softly behind me. “You’ll get used to it, don’t worry!”

I grimaced. “Maybe you should visit me next time instead, if that’s cool..”

“Hehe suit yourself! So, we gonna battle or what? You’ll need to get used to fighting again if you’re in a league.”

This took me by surprise. “Alright, but let’s make it two-on-two. I don’t have much time. I’ve still gotta talk to your friend Clay about the land in Twist Mountain.”

“Ok. We’ll make it a double battle, two of your team, two of mine. I’ll give you a taste of Unova! Go! Unfezant and Swanna!”

Forward surged two flying Pokemon. The first resembled a gamehen with a rather indifferent look on her face. The second appeared to be a, well, swan. It had a white body and blue chest feathers.

“Ok, I’ll introduce some Pokemon from my own league team! Go! Martinet and Regent!”

The laser beams cleared and my two newest friends stood against the asphalt runway. Martinet was a beautiful Tyranitar, with intense stats and a wicked look on her face. Reminded me of the harshness of my home. Regent, on the other hand, was a young, bashful Nidoking. He had great potential, though he was a bit unsure of himself. He also, unlike most of his kind, had Sheer Force as his ability. I knew that if I could make him a little less shy, he would prove to be a great asset on my team.

Sand immediately began whipping around the battle field from Martinet’s ability. Both of them flourished in the sand, but the birds were already squinting and ruffling their feathers up against the stinging winds.

The gamehen sped towards my Pokemon with intricate swerving motions; it would focus on Regent, then switch over to Martinet, then back. I knew it would eventually settle on Regent, with its lower level and defenses. Meanwhile, the Swanna was coating itself in fresh water produced from its shimmering wings.

The two nodded in agreement and split up. At this, Unfezant changes plans and began tailing Martinet instead, hoping to cut it off. My still-young, new, and recently evolved Nidoking was proving to be quite useful already. I guess giving him the Genius Wing I found on the runway earlier paid off, because he winked at me and began flicking tiny thorns dipped in his deadly neurotoxins directly in the Unfezant’s path. It tried to swerve around them, but it had to run to launch a Quick Attack, and with the ground covered in spikes, it was sure to get pricked soon. And when I heard the startled squawk from it, and saw it jump, I knew its grace had left it for just long enough to get it badly poisoned. It stopped running to check the bottom of its foot, and lost Martinet’s trail.

Meanwhile, my Tyranitar lumbered up behind the preening Swanna. It was just about to close its jaws on the bird when it finished its bath and fluttered away, letting out an avian yelp as it lost a few feathers to my pseudo-legendary’s vicious fangs. It spun around in indignity, firing a bubblebeam as it went. Thankfully, the Sandstorm was still too harsh, and most of the bubbles popped before they could hit their target, making it about as effective as a Squirtle’s Bubble. All this did was annoy my dinosaur, and it began snapping haphazardly at the swan, swinging its arms and banging its head.

“Your Tyranitar knows Thrash? Wow, I’m impressed.”

“Thanks! I love the speed stat on your birds.”

Martinet had pinned down the helpless Swanna by now and was beating it against the ground the way a playground bully would with the class nerd.

“Alright, girl, it gets the idea. Let it up, the Sandstorm’ll tire it out now.”

She grunted and hopped backwards, allowing the enemy to stagger for a minute before collapsing in a mess of feathers and dust.

One down, one poisoned. Let’s do this.

My clever Nidoking and catty Tyranitar turned on the Unfezant with wicked grins on their faces. But suddenly Martinet fell backwards, head spinning from the effort of Thrash.

“Take a break, Mar’. Regent’s got this.”

She sat back and watched with her eyes unfocused. I didn’t want to risk my Pokemon hurting herself by accident.

It was a standoff between Unfezant and Regent. My proud King raised his eyebrows and cracked his knuckles, ready for a battle. But the bird was already starting to shiver with the fever induced by the toxic. Skyla was biting her nails next to me.

“Unfezant, you’ve done your best. Let’s call it a match.”

The gamehen sighed in relief, and limped back to its master.

“Sorry about that. I just can’t stand to see a Pokemon get hurt. Why don’t we rustle up some grub and then I’ll take you to meet Clay?”

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

Clay had a reputation as a gruff, unfriendly fellow. But he had land, and I needed it. Cheap. On a mountain. I had to swallow my pride if I expected any favors.

“Scurgascurrr!!!” I jumped as I was greeted by a crocodilian creature whose head was at around my kidney level. It was bipedal, with a pink belly and black markings sketched every six inches or so around its body. It had long, sharp canines, and appeared to be wearing Blackglasses, though I could tell it wasn’t actually holding the item. Its arms were crossed with the sassy attitude that I was beginning to deem typical of Unova Pokemon. I liked it immediately.

“Made a new friend, Krok? I don’t reckon she’ll be around long, don’t let yerself get too close. We’ll beat her team juss like we did with th’ rest of ‘em.”

The caiman hissed at this, bristling the spines on its back.

“Wait! I’m not here to challenge you. You’re Clay, right?

“Yer damn tootin’ I am. If yer not here fer my badge, ya’d best be off. I don’t have time fer the likes of teenagers and their silly prank calls n’ fundraisers. I’ve gotta keep trainin’ my team ta deal with them Plasma folks if they ever come back..”

“Sir, that’s actually why I’m here. I’ve been summoned to form a league that will meet in the Tower of the Ancients.” I bit my prideful tongue, choosing my words carefully. Clay had assumed the same pose his Pokemon was in. The two had an intimidating air about them, and I knew I would pay if I said the wrong thing. Maybe I should complement him. “I’m putting together a team for my position as the ground type Elite Four member. Skyla told me that you’re the authority when it comes to your type, and I came to Driftveil to ask your advice in making a team.”

“I don’t need yer help with anything, young ‘un. I’m the one doin’ you the favor.”

“Right.”

He grunted. “So what’s on yer team so far?”

“Nidoking, Garchomp, Tyranitar, Torterra and I may go with either Gliscor or Swampert.”

“Yer missin’ one, ya know.”

“That’s why I came to you. What would you recommend?”

He flicked two Pokeballs from his belt. When the red light cleared, there stood two new faces. One was an ugly, blue, frog-looking thing with large boils sticking out of its round face. The other was a large mole, but nothing like the Diglett family. It had long steel claws and a sharp, jagged horn shadowing its white face and angry eyes. And the caiman stepped up beside them, raising its eyebrows naughtily.

Clay motioned them in turn, starting with the frog. “This’ere is Seismitoad. Next to ‘im is Excadrill, and the one you already met is Krokorok. These are the best of the best here in Unova.”

“Ooh, I like that Krokorok. What’s his typing?”

“Ground/dark. He’s a right nasty fella when he tries.”

“I like it! Where can I find my own?”

“Best catch it as a Sandile. They’re found in the desert. Ya’d best come with me, though. Harsh place, that. Always has a storm a blowin’.”
“My Pokemon thrive in a sand storm. We’ll do fine.”

Clay cleared his throat. “I said yer not goin’ alone.”

I got the message.

An hour or so later, there was sand whipping at our faces. I neatly tucked my hair back into a ski cap. For a girl born and bred in the mountains, I sure hate getting dirty. We trudged through the sandstorm, with me a few feet behind him, his Excadrill next to him, Martinet by my side. Clay led us down a winding path until we saw something odd.

“Hey, should we pick up those Blackglasses? I’ll bet your Krokorok could use em. If not, Martinet sure could.”

He let out a booming laugh. “Go right ahead and try, kid!”

Uneasy, I approached the item. I bent down to grasp them by the lens. Suddenly, the glasses let out a cry and sharp teeth chomped into my forearm.
“Ouch! What the..?”

I looked down to find a very small caiman gnawing at my skin. I shook it off in irritation. It landed on the ground and made a mocking “Scree!” sound.

“HAHAHA! That there is a Sandile. They hide under the sand to keep emselves warm. You wanna Krokorok? ‘Ere’s yer chance.”

Scowling, I sent out Regent. “Poison it, but don’t knock it out. I wanna catch this one!”

It nodded in agreement, turning on the Sandile. But instead of attacking, the target simply cocked its head and, I think, smiled..? It walked up to where I was, my Nidoking gaping in puzzlement, and sniffed at my bleeding arm. It then looked down at its feet, looked up at me, and cocked its head again, this time a regretful look in its dark eyes.

It nodded with an air of innocence watering its round eyes. My heart melted.

“Here.” I set a Great ball from my bag in front of it. It sniffed it for a moment, then poked its nose against the button, disappearing into the capsule. Easiest catch ever. And I’d have the scars to prove it.

Back at the Mistralton Pokemon center, I examined my new Sandile while the nurse treated the gashes in my arm. Male, quiet nature.. Its ability was Moxie, which would certainly come in handy. What would I name it?

Clay’s Krokorok reminds me of a creature I saw while playing Dungeons and Dragonites once, a Kobold. And my new Sandile’s behavior reminded me of a specific Kobold, Scrag. He asks the player to clear his sewer out of Houndours, but begs them not to injure any of them. This reminded me heavily of how Sandile had acted in the desert, feeling apologetic about the harm he inflicted on me. “Scrag..” I murmured, to which he immediately responded to. “Scrag? You like that name?” His eyes lit up with excitement. “Alright, Scrag it is.”

Just then, Skyla ran into the room. “Becca! Clay’s on the phone. He says he has land for you!”

Looked like Unova was going to fit me JUST FINE.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

Clay made a promise to me that I could rent a cabin on top of Twist Mountain for free as long as I kept it safe. This meant a call to Analyt. I wouldn’t be able to patrol the mountain while I was at the Summit, so I needed the best of my best to go through and check for villains.

When I got settled on the mountain, I immediately set up my laptop and plugged it into the storage system transport machine. Skyla helped me sync it; I’m horrible with technology. I then called up my home team.

“Analyt! It’s good to see your face on my Pokegear.. Listen, I need you guys in Unova with me. Can you let Bucky(my Blaziken) and Staraptor out? Teach Bucky how to work the computer and tell him to assemble a team over there after you guys leave. Then, send everybody over, starting with the egg.”

Analyt nodded with a growing smile on his round face. Within an hour, I had my dragons crowding cozily in the warm cabin with me, sipping green tea. Bucky and Staraptor had certainly indulged themselves; they had called out my Lugia, Soulreaper, and my shiny Raikou by the time I hung up the phone. Oh well.. Both of them loved fame, flourishing in the Battle Frontier and basking in attention around legendaries and shinies. I hoped for their sake they didn’t also summon Damion, the Empoleon. That was a pride bomb just waiting to go off.
As for me, I finished up my league team, adding Trench the Torterra and Skystar the Gliscor, with the promise to train Scrag in the morning. I carefully scrolled through my boxes, eventually choosing Shadow the Gengar, Tyson the Feraligatr, SpiceGrrrl the Houndoom, and the six I had recently trained in Johto for a friendly competition. I grinned as they showed up, all at level 50. Tryxie, the Ninetails. Psycha, the Alakazam. Zigzag, the Dragonaire. Charlie, the Poliwrath. Badass, the Arbok. And finally Cedar, the Sandslash. A lot of Pokemon, I know. But I felt these guys would be my best bet at patrolling the mountain. I set up shifts, with them going in groups of three. After organizing the patrols and setting the boundaries, I set the groups out to go explore while Analyt prepared dinner and I took Dracoburn out for a long flight, out in the evening air.

About an hour later, we all gathered for a “homemade” dinner. Of course, I’ll always prefer Stantler over Sawsbuck, but Scrag inhaled his share like it was a gift from Arceus himself. After that, Draco lit a bonfire and we sat out under the stars, sharing in the universal beauty of a mountain sky at night, with the scent of burning wood around us, the sound of Woobats and Swoobats fluttering through the dusk, the occasional skittering sound of a Joltik on a tree.. I lay against my drowsy Charizard, watching the newly hatched Gible poke around at sticks and rocks with his parents watching dutifully, a love and gentleness in their eyes that I had never seen before. I brushed aside loneliness at the thought of not having a relationship of my own. I had my Pokemon; surely that was enough?

I woke up that morning with the chirping of Pidoves over my head. My Pokemon were still around me, though the fire had gone out. Everyone had gotten closer together; Little Gible was nestled between Scarr and Ferocity; Martinet and Regent were lying with their heads on the same log; my Johto patrol team were in a closely-packed heap, with the hot Tryxie in the center and the better adjusted to cool temperatures(Charlie and Cedar) on the outside. And I had Dracoburn wrapped around me and.. Scrag resting in the crook of my knees, a grin on his sleeping face. I lounged with them, thinking, until the activity in my mind roused Draco. We got up silently and went for a walk in the morning air to clear our lungs and heads.

“So, Draco, do you like it here?”

It’s no Silver. But I’ve handled greater change before. And we all get the feeling there is more to come. He sighed. You’re anxious. The bird girl is anxious. The rude man with the nearly incomprehensible accent? He was shaking in his boots. Something’s wrong, and we can feel it. Will you tell us? Tell me?

“Draco.. Remember Team Rocket? There are people out there like them. People who hurt other people and Pokemon. There was a team a bit like them here.” He bristled, but let me continue. “Except they took people’s Pokemon away because they said people abused their Pokemon through making them battle each other.”

That’s stupid. If it was so abusive, we wouldn’t be willing to battle. We enjoy competition, it keeps us from going insane. It’s like exercise for us to use our powers. I’ve known of wild Charizards that have killed each other or caused forest fires because they were so restless. The only reason Pokemon need trainers is to give us boundaries so that our fights don’t go too far. Loyalty to our trainers takes precedence over the adrenaline of battle. Otherwise it would be chaos. We would still fight, and it would be much worse.

“I know, Draco.. But leading them was a very zealous young man named N. He had been conditioned his whole life to believe that trainers only hurt their Pokemon. His father, Ghetsis, always gave him Pokemon that had been abused or abandoned when he was a child. He had no human friends, only Pokemon that had been hurt by their trainers. It was never really his fault that these things happened; Ghetsis had brainwashed him his entire life. In the end, it turned out that Ghetsis merely wanted N for his mascot. He used N to convince people to release their Pokemon, all while Ghetsis increased the power of his own forces. They finally caught Reshiram, an extremely powerful dragon. N took on a young man named Cole, but not until Cole had caught his own legendary dragon, Zekrom. Together, the dragons fought, and Cole managed to pull off a victory. Enraged, Ghetsis attacked Cole’s weakened team, but again, Cole defeated him. Team Plasma scattered upon this, and N left on Reshiram to cleanse his soul. But everyone is still very uneasy. Something doesn’t feel right, as if it ended too easily. People and Pokemon alike are on edge that Ghetsis may return with a vengeance.”

Draco stared hard at the ground. So he may be out there still.. But what use is he if he’s exposed? If he doesn’t have N or Reshiram, how is he supposed to be a threat?

“I’m not really sure, to be honest. I don’t know the whole story. But I’m sure this will be discussed at the Summit. Skyla said they ‘needed this league more than ever’. All we can do is make ourselves as powerful as we can, and not let ourselves get too close to anyone.” I murmured wistfully.

You’re lonely. Why is this?

“You’re crazy, Draco. I don’t need any human as long as I have you.”

Liar. Basic human nature. Basic nature of any living creature, really. We need companionship to survive and continue our species. It’s nothing you can help; look at Ferocity and Scarr. Strongest-willed creatures ever born, but they melt when they see each other or the little one. It’s entirely inbred.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, kids? You really are nuts!”

You need a mate. Or at least a friend. Bird girl’s too preppy. Miltank man’s too.. Uneducated. And old. You’re in your prime, for a human. There was a chuckle in his voice. Live a little.

“Humans only cause pain.”

You sound like N.

“Oh, don’t you think I’ve been hurt enough? I don’t like heartbreak, so sue me! The only living beings I need in my life are my Pokemon.”

Ha. Alright. But when you get all moony like Ferocity and Scarr, I’m gonna laugh my tail flame out.

I slugged him in the arm playfully. “At least I know you still have a sense of humor. C’mon, we have a Sandile to train.”

An few hours later, Scrag was already level 28 and we had defeated every trainer on the first floor. The little croc learned quickly and excitedly. It didn’t enjoy injuring other Pokemon, but it loved to please me and impress my Pokemon. It seemed to have a little crush on Cedar, but the Sandslash regarded it like a babysitter would to a nine year-old who flirted innocently with her. That night, we gathered around the fire again, roasting berries. I pulled out my acoustic guitar and began to strum some old favorites from the Eastern regions. My Kanto Pokemon smiled nostalgically as my fingers began picking the melody of Lavender Town’s sad theme.. “Love, love, love, love, dancing silhouettes in your heart. I will, haunt you, gently tracing your intentions. Fol-low, your love, as the shadows spin ere closer. Tracing back to, when I lost you, feeling empty, being lonesome. Love, love, love, love, dancing silhouettes in my heart.”

My team sighed sadly, remembering the loss of our lives as we knew them. I continued with the remix. “I will always know you, need you, love you. I will always want you, hear you, feel you. I will always see you. I will always dream you. Until the day you are mine. As my sad-ness follows, my spir-it it still shows, until the day, until the night, that you are mine. As I dream so, softly, my heart it skips so lightly, and I need you, but you are mine, in your new life. I will always know you, need you, love you. I will always want you, hear you, feel you. I will always see you. I will always dream you. Until the day you are mine.”

I wiped a single tear from my cheek, and looked deeply into the watering eyes of my friends. We let out a collective sigh, all feeling a bit homesick. But it was a new day, in a new union, and we would make it. I knew it.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.

I actually wrote lyrics for the first Lavender Town song months and months back. The second one is new

And the Summit is only a chapter or two away. I need to finish training Scrag, and then the two weeks will miraculously come to a close.

"Trainer: We would like to invite you to try your hand at a new kind of challenge. The League of Heroes is a league of world-class battlers, with its own set of leaders and elite four members. If you are interested, please mail your invitation to the location listed below with your RSVP and we will send you a map with the locations of our gyms.
Yours truly, the Elite Four of the NCTH
Tower of the Ancients, Unova"

If you challenge our league and are lucky enough to get to me, you have a shot at winning the Mountain Heights Symbol. Credit to Northern Lights for the badge.